


Conversations

by LinksLipsSinkShips



Series: Folk, Hop, n Rhink [3]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: College, Emotional Hurt, Hurt, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Separations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-11-11 00:57:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11138049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinksLipsSinkShips/pseuds/LinksLipsSinkShips
Summary: Rhett's leaving for Slovakia, and it means some big changes for the duo.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Suggested Listening: Conversations by Judah and the Lion

“You did not just say that.”

 “Link, I know. It sucks but I have to do it. It’s gonna look really good on my resume, and… do you really think this is easy for me?”

 Link had his hands balled up tightly into fists. He wasn’t sure if he was going to punch his pillow, or Rhett, or the wall, or all three.

 “I didn’t really have a choice, Neal. You know I’m not doing that great in school, not compared to you. I have to pad my resume every way I can, and this is gonna do that for me, man.”

 “So what does this mean? Like, for us? If you’re in Slovakia…” Link’s eyes started to well up, but he blinked to try to stop the tears before they spilled over. Rhett was not going to see him cry, not going to know he cared so damn much.

 “I don’t want to stop you from living your life or doing what you need to do while I’m gone. I’m not gonna make you wait for me, man. That’s not fair. It’s my choice to go, but you have to do what you have to do.” Rhett sighed. He was blaming his resume on the sudden decision to spend a summer in Slovakia, but honestly? He needed the time to clear his head and figure out how they were going to actually work this out. I mean, the rumors already flew. They’d been flying since they got caught wrestling in their underwear. Heck, they’d been talked about since middle school. Everyone thought they were a couple, but it was rural North Carolina. No one was going to accept how they felt for one another.

 “You don’t want me to wait? Isn’t that some fancy way of sayin’ you don’t plan to wait? What, you gonna find yourself some pretty Slovakian girl, marry her or somethin’?” Link’s anger bubbled over, and he couldn’t hide his tears. He pounded his fists against Rhett’s chest, and Rhett grabbed his wrists to pull Link into a tight hug. Link cried into his pectoral muscles, buried his head against Rhett, sobbing, choking on his own tears. His arms were pressed between their bodies, and Rhett’s wrapped fully around him, one hand toying with his bleached hair, the other firmly on his waist.

 “No, no… shhhh, baby. No. Of course not. This just gives us both time to sort things out, and it gives me a chance to…” he trailed off as Link pulled back from him.

 “Sort things out? Fucking sort things out? What’s there to sort out, Rhett? If you were being honest that night, there’s nothing to fucking sort out.”

* * *

 

Rhett’s mind floated back in time. It had all started innocently, a few months ago. The tension of studying and living in close proximity and trying to sort out their future as engineers just proved to be too much and they had started arguing, like they sometimes did, like they were doing now. Arguing turned to wrestling, and somehow, wrestling turned to Rhett pulling the “I’m Dead” move. Link hated when he did that, hated being trapped under the larger man’s weight. As he scrambled for a way to pry Rhett off of him, he decided to change the power balance and planted his lips firmly on Rhett’s, expecting him to jump off in surprise. Except that’s not what happened, no. Rhett kissed back, and Link, too stubborn to admit his plan had failed, opened himself up to Rhett’s kiss, deepened it with his tongue.

Those kisses turned into more stolen kisses in the days after, this time without the pretense of wrestling as a lead-in. Little kisses between classes in the private of their room, small pecks before bed, even a makeout session or two. And those kisses? Well, somehow they led to Rhett in Link’s bed, kissing his way down Link’s lean torso.

 “Gosh, Link, your body… it’s just... “ Rhett groaned as he kissed downwards, sliding Link’s pants down, revealing the one thing he truly needed right then. “Gosh, you’re so beautiful.” Sure, he’d glanced at Link’s cock on more than one occasion, but this was his first time being truly up close and personal with it. “Is this okay with you?” Rhett asked one last time before moving forward with his plan to fully assault Link’s senses with his tongue.

 Link ran his fingers along the back of Rhett’s head and smiled. “Of course, baby…”

 They curled up together after, Link’s hand caressing Rhett’s cock. Rhett insisted Link didn’t need to return the favor, but as they laid here snuggled into each other, Link couldn’t help but let his hands roam at the very least, and Rhett certainly wasn’t stopping him.

 “I love you, Link.”

 “Mmm… I love you, too, Rhett.” Link closed his eyes, and within minutes, he was asleep in Rhett’s arms.

 Neither of them realized how much that night, and their other study breaks together, would impact them emotionally, physically, mentally. It was one thing to be best friends that everyone thought were together. It was another thing to actually admit to the world that they were together. Especially in damn North Carolina.

* * *

   
“Link... “ Rhett tried to calm his best friend, his soul mate, down, but Link wasn’t having it.

 “Don’t touch me, man. Don’t even fucking touch me right now. You want to go? Go.” He spit the words at Rhett with malice. His nose flared as his eyes darkened.

 “When I get back, we can go back to this. Just… give me some time to work over there and I’ll come back to you, Link, I swear I will.” Rhett tried to close the gap between them, but Link held his hand out, stopping Rhett in his tracks.

 “Say what you need to say, man. Then just go. I’ll be fine. I’m gonna be just fine living life on my own.”

 The two men barely exchanged words for the last few weeks of the semester. Rhett carefully packed, and Link never offered to drive him to the airport. When Rhett went to say his goodbyes, Link was already gone, headed back home for the summer.

 It broke Rhett’s heart, knowing he had made a decision that led to them being apart for the summer. He prayed to anyone who would listen to him up above that when he got home, they could be together.

  _God, Link, I miss you so much. I miss the time we spent together, I miss your bright blue eyes, I miss all of it. When I… when I have some time alone, I always think about the times we spent together. I’ve only got another month here, and then I’ll be back home. I need to see you. Will you forgive me for leaving, promise to talk it out when I get home? I just miss you, man. I really, really do._

  _Always,_

  _Rhett_

 Rhett folded the letter, already pages long, and placed it in an envelope. He wrote the familiar address of his best friend on it, placed it in the mail, and waited to hear back. He didn’t, though. Not a single letter came from Link that summer.

 At home, Link’s soul felt crushed. He laid in bed, his heart folding in on itself, his brain holding the flesh and bones, turned to dust from heartache, and shared kisses between them. Every morning, his heart broke again when he realized Rhett was an ocean away, and every night, his body ached for that familiar touch. After a few weeks, his mother finally put her foot down and made him leave the house, pushing him towards friends and family and familiar spaces.

* * *

 

 “Hey, man. I’m back in town,” Rhett blurted as soon as he heard that familiar voice answer the phone. “When can I see you?”

 “I, uh, I mean, I’m kind of busy lately, but maybe we could hang out sometime soon.”

 “Oh, yeah? Just let me know, man. I missed, uh… hanging out with you and everything.” Rhett tried to make sure he played it cool, in case anyone was listening.

 “Yeah, I… I missed hanging out, too.” Link’s heart ached. He missed Rhett so much. “I… I proposed to Christy.”

 “You… you’re… oh.” Rhett’s heart sank. He felt his throat starting to swell shut with tears, and he wanted to shatter into a million pieces. “Congratulations, Link. I’m really excited for you.”  
They were the right words, but the wrong tone of voice. “Listen, I have to go, okay? I’ll talk to you later.”

 “Bye, Rhett.”

 “Bye, Link.” It wasn’t until after he heard the click that he whispered, almost imperceptibly, “I love you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the prompt "Were you ever gonna tell me?" from padamooseandfreckles.

“Were you ever gonna tell me?” Rhett rubbed his eyes, trying to hide the fact that tears were welling up, threatening to stream down his face in an unstoppable flood.

“What was there to tell? I thought you got them, and then I didn’t hear from you. What was I supposed to think, Rhett?” Link’s voice was quivering, his feelings completely transparent.

“I didn’t know. I didn’t, I swear. If I would have… this never would have… it never would have gone this way, would it have?” Rhett couldn’t hold back tears any longer. They streamed down his face, and Link reached out a single hand to wipe the tears away.

Rhett had sent that letter, told Link how much he missed him all those years ago in a dorm in Slovakia. And when he didn’t hear back from Link, came home to find Link engaged to Christy, well, that was all the answer he needed. Link didn’t miss Rhett the way Rhett missed him. Except he did, and all evidence of that was gone.

Link had figured when Rhett didn’t send any letters, that Rhett was over it, too. His trip to Slovakia to “clear his head” was a goodbye, Link thought, and he pushed Rhett out of his mind as best as he possibly could, tapered back the letters, then stopped sending them altogether.

It wasn’t until he found the box, stuffed away in his mom’s closet. It held every letter he’d sent that summer, every single one he’d placed so lovingly in the mailbox. But it also held something else, letters he’d never seen before, dozens of letters with Rhett’s handwriting scrawled across the front. When he found them, he sat in the corner of the closet and sobbed, realizing the years he’d missed out on.

He considered keeping it from Rhett, too many years gone now for them to make up for it. They were both married-- happily married!-- to wives. They had kids. Telling Rhett now could destroy all of that. For a long time, he just kept his mouth shut. He hadn’t told his mom he’d found the letters, didn’t tell her when he took them and placed them in his bag, took them all the way back to California. He didn’t tell Christy, either, hiding them in a part of the attic she’d never look in.

But Link never was good about keeping secrets, not from Rhett. And eventually, he gave in. He’d taken the letters down carefully, quietly, when no one was home. He’d brought them to work, stuffed them in his office drawer. And that day, as he and Rhett had been sitting in the office alone, everyone else having gone home an hour ago, Link knew it was time. He walked over and locked their office door.

“What are you doing, bo? Everybody went home hours ago.”

“I just want to make sure we have some privacy. I need to show you something, something important.” Link’s voice wasn’t giving any clues as to what was so important that they needed a locked door in an empty building, so Rhett just waited patiently.

Link placed the box in his lap. Rhett was puzzled-- the box looked unfamiliar.

“What’s this?”

“Open it.”

Rhett lifted the lid, taking out the first letter. It had his own handwriting on it. He pulled another and another from the box, all with his handwriting.

“Why’d you bring me the letters I sent you?” Rhett wasn’t understanding.

“I brought them because I never got any of them. I found them, and I’d never seen them before.” Link lifted the box, turning it so the other side of the box was facing Rhett. “And that means you’ve never seen these.”

Rhett lifted out the letters, each one with Link’s handwriting, the now barely-remembered address of his postbox in Slovakia on the front.

And that brought them to now. “You wrote me? Were you ever gonna tell me?”

As Link wiped the tears from Rhett’s eyes, years of secrets fell out in the open between them. Rhett had left to sort out his thoughts but spent every day thinking of Link. Link had written, waiting for a response, and never got one. When he assumed Rhett had left because he was ending it, he’d moved on, married Christy. And now, years apart that could have been spent together were out in the open.

“I love Jessie. I love my kids, I wouldn’t change any of that for the world… but I loved you. I missed you. I never stopped missing you, man.”

“I know. I love Christy, my kids, too. But how many years could we have had?”

“Maybe it isn’t too late.” Rhett tried to think of a way, any way, that he and Link could get back what they’d lost.

“Isn’t it, though? We’re married, have kids, have an entire career built together. You don’t think that all of that would get ruined?” Link loved Rhett, that love had never died. It’s why he packed up everything to follow Rhett to California, their dreams of creating something together coming true. But he loved his family.

“I don’t know. But I really think we need to find out.” Rhett opened his arms, and Link nestled himself against Rhett. Rhett opened the letters, reading each one, as Link laid against him, re-reading them himself. They weren’t going to find any easy answers today… but maybe someday, in some way, they’d make up for lost time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a little bit Notebook-y. #sorrynotsorry.


End file.
